Upholstered spring structures and supporting mats therefor



I. F. CLARK Jan. 22, 1957 UPHOLSTERED SPRING STRUCTURES AND SUPPORTING MATS THEREFOR Filed Aug. 5, l954 2 Sheets-Sheet l I NVEN TOR. c//? f f/afi/r Jan. 22, 1957 I. FJCLARK 2,778,411

UFHOLSTERED SPRING STRUCTURES AND SUPPORTING MATS THEREFOR Filed Aug. 5, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN V EN TOR.

//d/? f. [Van r Ivan F. Clark, Lyons, Mich, assignor to Ivan Clark Manufacturing Company, Lyons, Mich.

Application August 5, 1954, Serial No. 448,108

Claims. (Cl. 155181) This invention relates to upholstered spring structures such as cushions, backs, spring filled mattresses or the like and upholstery supporting mats.

The main objects of this invention are:

First, to provide an upholstered spring structure of this general class in which the upholstery is effectively supported and is supported in a manner to minimize wear thereon and displacement thereof. I

Second, to provide an upholstered spring structure in which the upholstery proper may be relatively thin and is at the same time supported so that there is no feel of the spring unit through the upholstery and so that the load upon the upholstery is quite widely distributed on the supporting spring unit.

Third, to provide an upholstery supporting mat for spring structures or units, the use of which substantially reduces the amount of upholstery padding required,

and at the same time efiectively protects the upholstery.

Fourth, to provide an upholsterysupporting mat for spring structures or units which may be quickly and easily applied and supports the upholstery throughout. I

Fifth, to provide an upholstery supporting mat having these advantages which is economical in material and the assembling thereof.

Objects relating to details and economies of the invention will appear from the description to follow. The invention is defined and pointed out in the claims.

A preferred embodiment of. the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which: i

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary plan view of an upholstery cushion spring structure embodying my invention.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical section.

3 is a fragmentary perspective view of the mat of my invention.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged fragmentaryperspective view of the bottom ply or sheet of the mat.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary perspective view illustrating details of the resilient padding body.

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary perspective view of a modified form or embodiment of my invention.

In the accompanying drawing I have illustrated my invention as embodied in a spring seat cushion but it should be understood that it may be embodied in cushioned backs, spring mattresses, spring pillows and in other relations where upholstery covering is applied to a spring unit. Further it should be understood that in the accompanying drawing parts of the several figures are shown conventionally and no attempt hasbeen made to show parts in relative thickness or gauge in view of the fact that some of the material used is so thin that it is impractical to show its actual thickness or gauge.

In the accompanying drawing the spring structure illustrated comprises the helical coiled body springs 1, adiacent springs being connected by the helical tie members 2. The border frame 3 is secured to the border springs by means of the clips 4 commonly called hog rings in the spring industry.

United States Patent 0 The bottom frame is not illustrated.

The upholstery filling or padding material is conventionally shown at 5, the upholstery covering 6 also conventionally shown is draped thereover and has skirt portions 7 depending at the sides of the spring unit and suitably connected to a-bottom or supporting frame not shown. It will be understood that in a mattress the filling or padding covering is commonly extended or provided on both sides.

The supporting mat of my invention designated generally by the numeral 8 comprises a resilient padding body 9 of felted fibrous material desirably made up of a plurality of superimposed plies 10, as illustrated in Fig. 5.

The fibrous material used may vary considerably and is commonly a waste fiber material. The top fabric ply or sheet 11 is desirably a loosely woven fabric and is superimposed upon the felted body and secured thereto by stitching 12, desirably spaced parallel rows of stitching.

The fabric ply constitutes a reinforcing element and protects the surface of the felted material from scuffing and bunching such as might result from the repeated flexing of the mat in use and the uneven distribution of loads thereon.

The bottom sheet or ply designated generally by the vnumeral 13 comprises a sheet of plastic 14 with strands 15 preferably of plastic material and of substantial length arranged helter-skelter and substantially uniformly on the upper surface of the sheet 14 and adhesively secured thereto.

There are several forms of plastic sheets on the market that may be used with satisfactory results. This bottom ply is adhesively secured to the underside of the padding material. The reinforcing strands strengthen the plastic sheet in all directions and enable it to withstand the various stresses to which it is subjected when the mat is superimposed on a spring unit.

The mat supports the upholstering material 5 so it cannot pass or work down between the springs even when the springs are quite widely spaced.

I have illustrated a conventionally helical coil spring structure but I desire to point out that my embodiment may be used with various types of spring structures such for example, those embodying so called zigzag or. sinuously bent spring elements and helically coiled springs and otherspring structures now most commonly used.

The mat is easily and quickly applied to the spring structure, the edges of the mat being draped over the border frame and the bottom sheet or ply wrapped around the border frame and secured thereto, as illustrated in Fig. 2, by clips or hog rings 16.

The pad of my invention when incorporated in a spring structure not only effectively supports the upholstery material but prevents any feel of the supporting springs. The mat is also effective in distributing localized load over a substantial area of the supporting spring unit. Also the plastic ply provides a relatively smooth spring structure engaging surface to minimize wear and to facilitate free movement of the springs of the spring structure.

In the modification shown in Fig. 6 a top sheet 17 of plastic material is substituted for the fabric top sheet 11 and in this embodiment the plies-10 constituting the padding body are desirably adhered together as is indicated at 13. However the applicant now prefers to'use the fabric top sheet and the stitching 12 which bonds it to the entire body of padding material instead of being merely secured to the top surface of the padding body as is the case where the top sheet is adhesively secured to the padding.

I have illustrated and described my invention in a highly practical embodiment. I have not attempted to of stitches therethrough securing them together and holding the felted plies against substantial lateral movement relative to each other, the fabric ply constituting a reinforcing element and protecting the surface of the felted padding material from bunching and scuffing, and a bottom ply of plastic material, the plastic ply being adhesively secured throughout to the under side of the padding body, the side of the plastic sheet opposite from that secured to padding body constituting a spring structure engaging surface and being relatively smooth to minimize wear and to facilitate free movement of a sprin structure for supporting the mat.

2. An upholstery supporting mat for spring structures comprising a resilient padding body of felted fibrous material of substantially uniform thickness throughout, a top ply of fabric, said top ply and the felted padding body having rows of stitches therethrough securing them together, the fabric ply constituting a reinforcing element and protecting the surface of the felted padding material from bunching and scufiing, and a bottom ply comprising a sheet of plastic material and strands of plastic material of substantial length arranged helter-skelter and substantially uniformly on the upper side of said plastic sheet ply, the plastic ply and the strands thereon being adhesively secured throughout to the underside of the padding body, the side of the plastic sheet opposite from that secured to padding body constituting a spring structure engaging surface and being relatively smooth to minimize Wear and to facilitate free movement of a spring structure for supporting the mat.

3. An upholstery supporting mat for spring structures comprising a resilient padding bodyof felted fibrous material of substantially uniform thickness, a top sheet superimposed on the padding body and secured thereto, the top sheet constituting a reinforcing element for the padding body and protecting the surface thereof from bunchin-g and scufiing, and a,bo t torn sheet of plastic maa ad esive y secu e to theunderside f he pa body, the side of the. plasticsheet opposite from that secured to padding'body constituting a spring structure eneas n r ce and. beingrela i ly sm oth to minimize wear and to facilitatefree movement of a' spring structure u fins h matt .1 V

4. An upholstery supporting mat for spring structures comprising a resilient padding body ofrfelted fibrous material of substantially uniform thickness, and a bottom sheet of plastic material having strands of plastic material of substantial length arranged helter-skelter and substantially uniformly on=the upper side thereof, the plastic sheet and the strands thereon being adhesively secured to the underside of thelpadding body.

5. An upholstery supporting mat for spring structures comprising a resilient padding body of fibrous material and a ply of plastic material secured to one of the sides of the-padding body, the side of the plastic ply opposite from that secured to the padding body constituting a spring structure engaging surface and being'relatively smooth to minimize wear and to facilitate free flexing of a spring structure that supports the mat.

References Cited inthe file of this patent t UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,809,733

'Smith June 9, 1931 1,906,028 Weber et al. Apr. 23, 1933 1,964,903 Bronson July 3, 1934 2,218,745 Detrick Oct. 22, 1940 2,222,782 Moses Nov. 26, 1940 2,255,554 Gordon Sept. 9, 1941 2,357,392 1Francis Sept. 5, 1944 2,688,580 Fingerhut Sept; 7, 1954 

